He Could Still Come
by Lark57
Summary: Hotaru's getting married, but not to who anyone would think, not to who she wants. But it's all okay, cause HE could still come, right? R+R


He Could Still Come

By Lark57

Author's Note: It's 2:10 in the morning and I am going to get over this damned writer's block even if it kills me, which it probably will. We're starting out easy with a plot that's not really mine.

WARNING

-plot from the car commercial for the Jetta Vr-6 [ya know, the wedding one]

-crazy poetic writing that might not make sense

-slightly creative pairing: Milliardo **x **Hotaru **x **a surprise guest!

-the writer has just finished off 2 cans of mountain dew

Disclaimers for the plot, the characters but not the writing so if you wish to archive it somewhere please send me an e-mail first.

Shall we begin?

+++

You have been invited to the wedding of Milliardo Peacecraft and Hotaru Tomoe

The service will be held at noon on the 17 of May in the Kadia Gardens 

-see directions on the back-

We hope you can join us for this joyous occasion!

+++

A slender thumb pressed into the pale pink, satin-to-the-touch, stationary paper. A second thumb ran over the indentation of the seal of the Peacecraft Family at the bottom.

"I shouldn't go," the person reasoned with themselves. "I can't go." A pause. "I'm not going."

"Are you sure?"

+++

"Will he come?"

"No, Firefly, I don't think he _can_ come."

Hotaru Tomoe turned to her mentor and care taker, Sestuna Meiou with a bitter sweet look. "Yes, I could imagine he is thinking the same thing." She turned her gaze back to the cherry tree that was growing outside the window she was sitting in. The blossoms were full and brimming with the pink liquid that dyed their petals that rosy color. With the up most gentleness she reach out with a slender ivory clothe clad finger and plucked a bud from the branch. 

//Now I have taken you away from everything you know, how will you react?// she wondered and already could see the life energy seeping out of the stem and onto her hand. //Ah, you will die.//

Quickly Hotaru put the bud back on the branch, attaching it with a bit of power and smiling when the flower returned to its usual buoyancy. //Will I die too? Now that I am away from everything I know?//

_Hotaru, you would survive on a desert island as long as you have your books._ A chuckle and a light kiss on the cheek. Words meaningless but holding a great weight all the same.

"I would survive anywhere as long as you were with me." If Sestuna heard her, the woman made no comment. "But you are not here. You are _gone_, and have been for a long time now." With resolution Hotaru jumped off the sill and landed on the polish wooden floor, white skirt flowing out around her.

Sestuna smiled. //Only Hotaru can sit in a window sill in her wedding gown and manage to keep it from getting filthy or wrinkled.// 

"Are you ready Firefly?"

"Yes, I don't think he's coming."

"No, he's not darkling. He has been dead for a couple years now." Sestuna finally said, biting her lip at the harsh words. 

Hotaru took a deep breath and held back the tears that would make her make-up run. "Yes, he has." 

//But maybe he will still come.//

+++

"What do you mean 'Are you sure'? I said I wasn't going. I'm not going."

"Okay buddy. If you say so. Just seems like a waste to me. You bought the tux and the present, even put everything _on_ and now you've decided you aren't gonna go anyway."

"Are you saying I should go, make a big scene and probably ruin the service simply because I'm already dressed?"

"Yep."

A sigh and a knowing smile. "You want to come?"

"Yep."

+++

Hotaru looked up and down the hallway carefully before exiting. She felt like an idiot sneaking around like some spy, but her soon to be step-sister Releana had this thing about the bride and groom seeing each other before the occasion and it being bad luck. _So_ she was stuck avoiding her fiancé Mil like the plague.

"Hotaru, where are you going? I can go ahead and check to see if _he_ is there," Sestuna offered when she saw Hotaru look around the next corner. 

Hotaru grinned at her foolishness. "I don't really know, I just couldn't sit in that window and pity myself anymore. What do brides usually do a half an hour before…ya know."

"Their _wedding_?" Sestuna stressed, laughing again at how Hotaru refused to speak that dreaded word, even if the habit held a sad story behind it.

_If I don't say it, then it will mean that I'm not giving up on him._

"I don't know. What do you want to do?" Sestuna asked, trying to shake herself of the down cast feeling.

Hotaru thought for a moment, adopting that adorable look of concentration on her face. Suddenly there was a sparkle in her eyes and she looked up, wearing a pouty lip. "Can we go to a book store?"

Sestuna sighed heavily. "A book store? Hotaru, you're getting married in 23 minutes and you want to go buy another _book_?"

Hotaru gave the smallest nod.

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Why not?" Hotaru whined, following Sestuna as she walked back to the bride's room.

+++

"Because his car has a full tank of gas."

"Buddy, we're only going to the Gardens, you won't need that much gas."

A hidden look. "Hn."

"We _are_ just going to the Gardens right?"

The leader of the pair climbed into his friend's gray Jetta and waited for his companion to join him. 

"Right?" The other repeated himself several times as the pulled out of the garage but there was no answer. 

+++

//It's raining, Love. Can you feel it even through your coffin?// Hotaru wondered as she watched the storm take revenge on the Earth from the shelter of a stone gazebo she had found in her wanderings to get away from the … thing.

"I have to go soon, Love. I have to say goodbye forever in…6 minutes. Can you forgive me?" Hotaru wondered, not surprised that her voice was cracking under a sob, just like the crackling lightening that had started to appear in the distance.

_Hotaru. I have to go. One last mission. Just one last battle, then life._

That's what her love had said the night before he had died. He had promised just one more thing and then he would be hers. But promises, like words, are cheap and he never came back.

"One battle and then you're dead, Love," Hotaru responded to her memories bitterly. "One more damned battle and you're gone. ONE MORE BATTLE AND YOU DISAPPEAR!" she screamed out into the air, watching as the glitter of raining carried her words to the sky. "One more battle and I am lost."

"Hotaru?" a male voice that she wasn't suppose to be hearing called out. "Hotaru?"

//You and him, you sound the same. Think I did that on purpose, Love?// Hotaru mused and turned to see Mil running towards her under the protection of an umbrella. He looked like a white knight under the stray patch of light that had broken through the clouds. Her white knight, that was what he was right?

"Gods, Taru. I thought you were going to stand me up," Mil called out through the rain.

Hotaru shook her head. "No, just thinking. Is it time?"

Milliardo smiled with the light of a million stars. "Yes."

Hotaru grinned back with the light of a million dead fireflies. "Go, I will follow. We can't let Releana know that we've seen each other." Mil nodded and jogged off. 

"One last battle, Love and now _I'm_ gone," she spoke out loud, hoping he could hear her through the ground.

+++

"So let me get this straight. She hasn't seen you since the war right? She thinks you're dead right?"

"Hn."

"Well that should make the reception _real_ interesting." The car is caught in traffic.

"Kuso."

"Pal, it's a ice cream truck. You like, aren't _allowed_ to curse at ice cream trucks."

"Omae o korusu."

Another sigh. "Yeah, we are running out of time aren't we?"

"Hn."

"Yeah, what was I thinking? We have plenty of time." False reassurance is better than anything.

+++

"I apologize ladies and gentlemen. My daughter felt she needed sometime to go and sort her self out. You know how these young women can be sometimes." There were a couple of laughs and joking objections, but an over all anticipation for the service to start.

"Can I begin now, Doctor?" the orchestra leader inquired. There was a quick nod and the familiar music began. Everyone stood and turned, creating a loud ruckus in large hall. 

First came the flower girl, the daughter of Milliardo's dead friend Trieze, Marie Maya. Looking like a gem in a light lavender, she walked a few steps and dropped her cherry blossom stem. Sighing in annoyance at all the women whispering how adorable she was, she continued her journey until she took her place next to Sestuna.

Next came the ring bearer, Chang Wufei and Salley Po's son, Akira. He looked exactly like his father with a very arrogant and proud face. Again people 'ooo'ed and 'awww'ed. The only thing that kept the 6 year old from yelling out in objection was a threat from Wufei before the ceremony to take away his katana. Akira walked stuffily to his own place beside Samuel, Hotaru's good friend.

Then everyone grew silent and watched as the heavens opened and dropped Hotaru on their door step. The angel was there, nervous face hidden by a thin veil as she took her first step down the golden carpet. //He can still come,// was her last thought before she took the plunge.

+++

"TURN!"

"Where?"

"THERE! THERE! That's the street! See that big white building?! That's the Garden House! Aw damn I can hear the music!"

"Kisama."

A mumble, "Got that right."

+++

"Milliardo Peacecraft," the minister spoke with a voice infused by God. "I have this question for you."

There was a welcomed chuckle as the minister broke the nervous tension in the room. "Yes, Father?"

"Do you, Milliardo Peacecraft, take this woman, Hotaru Tomoe to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until you are parted by death?"

"I do."

"Good. Hotaru Tomoe?"

//Oh Gods, me?// Hotaru's thoughts were dancing. She couldn't do this. She was here now and she could see she could never ever love anyone else but … him. //Oh Gods, not me. Please not me.//

"Yes, Father?"

"Do you, Hotaru Tomoe, take this man, Milliardo Peacecraft to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until you are parted by death?"

//No, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO, NO! HE COULD STILL COME!//

"I do."

"Great. Then if anyone else has a reason that these two should not be married, speak now or forever hold their peace."

+++

"Man, I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"They just said their vows. Incase you missed it, she said 'I do'. It's over, Buddy."

"Not yet."

"You're not going to?" Realization. "You are!"

+++

"Great. Then if anyone else has a reason that these two should not be married, speak now or forever hold their peace."

Hotaru's lips were opened to speak, to object, to say she was living a lie, but then she forced herself to look at the look of pure bliss on Milliardo's face. She couldn't say a thing. She couldn't break his happiness, for the smallest possibility that she could have her own.

//I'm sorry, Love. The battle is over.// Then the smallest voice…//He could still come.// She banished it thought. There was no more hope. It was over.

Then noise brought her back and she looked to the monstrous doors of the Garden House. Standing there, panting and soaked like a rat was…

"Heero?"

+++

Author's Note: K, the other pilot in the car was of course Duo and the reason that I ended the story here is because this is where the commercial ends. 

Hotaru: You're afraid of them aren't you?

Lark: Wouldn't you be? Readers can be very testy about cliff hangers.

Heero: Hn. They should be allowed to hurt you for that ending.

Lark: **Sigh** Thanks for the support Heero.


End file.
